Ranking my current top 10 Taylor Swift songs based on my flop era
"I'm doing good, I'm on some new sh*t"; more like I'm in deep sh*t, Taylor.
For years I was an intermittent Swiftie. It took a global pandemic and months-long in isolation in order for me to revive my inner, full-blown love for this Mother, all thanks to her groundbreaking cottage core album folklore. Much as the rest of the world, I was in quarantine and my source of serotonin was the broody and earthy 16-track album featuring indie bro Bon Iver, The National (one of my all time faves), and the shared service of main pop girl’s it producer Jack Antonoff.
To be honest I only got hooked on the Swiftie madness once again when I found out one-half of The National twin was part of the production; but as I listen to the album 100x times, I was reminded why I started listening to Taylor Swift back in 2008: her unique grasp on storytelling.
The makings of a Swiftie
As a self-proclaimed ultimate music consumerist, country wasn’t really on my radar. But Taylor was the exception (and maybe Carrie Underwood). I was there during her country-with-a-strong-twang days with Taylor Swift, obsessively trying to memorize the words of Our Song, finding Teardrops On My Guitar hella boring, and thinking up to this day that Should’ve Said No is the unabashledy top tier track of the album.
This continued on with Fearless, which made me fall deeper in love with Taylor and her gut-wrenching and relatable songs. The quintessential pick me album, it gave birth to majority of the songs that are still on my heavy rotation. Who didn’t fall in love with Love Story (to this day Shakespeare is paying his respects from six feet under)? Who didn’t want to dance in the storm in her best dress with Fearless? Don’t tell me you couldn’t relate to You Belong With Me at some point in your life? And who didn’t scream out the words to Forever & Always while cursing at Joe Jonas (which was a difficult time in my life since I was also a JoBros fan)?
As a woman approaching her Saturn return, Speak Now still holds a special place in my heart. That album is still my shit to this day. Hits after hits, I was in a chokehold when I first listened to it. Speak Now gave birth to two of my all-time favorite Taylor Swift songs - Mine and Sparks Fly - and a song every John Mayer fan dreads (Dear John). There’s also the underrated pop perfection Enchanted, Back To December, and the misogynist anthem Better Than Revenge. Speak Now also cemented Taylor as the reputable lyricist that she is today, with all 14 tracks solely written by her.
Then comes Red. Red rightly deserves a separate think piece on her own thanks to the introduction of her magnum opus (which we already know which song). I can outright say that Red is my favorite Taylor Swift album, so imagine my elation when the Taylor’s Version was first announced. I first listened to the album as a whole after a school retreat in 2013, and it was a religious experience listening to State of Grace up until Begin Again during the 2-hour trip back home. I still say a prayer every now and then thanking Jake Gyllenhaal for this masterpiece.
After Red I fell off the Swiftie bandwagon when she took a massive detour to pop with 1989, reputation, and Lover. Then Miss Rona came knocking as well as my reformed love for Miss Swift. Because of the extended isolation and boredom, I’ve come to appreciate a lot of songs from these three albums that I’ve missed especially songs from reputation and Lover.
There we are again on our flop era
Throughout 2020 up until this writing, Mother’s songs remain in my most-played playlist and as every Swiftie know all too well, have become staples in different stages and situations in my life. Yes, especially during my flop era. Presenting: the writer’s own playlist of top 10 Taylor Swift songs based on her exhausting, nauseating flop era:
The playlists includes the perfect mix of songs from Red, 1989, reputation, Lover, folklore, and even evermore for when you feel like crap or unrelatable!
No one wants to stay in this godforsaken era, that’s why the playlist serves as a reminder to myself to reach my very own slay era hopefully in the near future. But for now let’s bask in the vulnerability we all feel when we listen to Delicate, overthink the what-ifs with Cornelia Street, and continue fucking the patriarchy with The Man.